Buffer for radial draft-gears.



H. T. KRAKAU. BUFFER FOR RADIAL DRAFT GEARS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 24, 190B.

Patented Jan. 25, 1910.

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H T. KRAKAU. BUFFER FOR RADIAL DRAFT GEARS.

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APPLICATION FILED JULY 24 1908. 947,245, Patented Jan.25, 1910.

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H. T. KRAKAU. BUPFER FOR RADIAL DRAFT GEARS.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 24. 1908.

Patented Jan. 25, 1910.

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HARRY '1. KRAKAU, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL MALLEABLEGASTINGS COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

BUFFER, FOR RADIAL DRAFT-GEARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 25, 1910.

of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have inventeda Buffer for Radial Draft-Gear, of which the follow ing is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a plan view partly in section; Fig. 2 is a front view;Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line I1I1II of Fig. 1, showing theconnection between the face plate and buffer; Fig. 4 is a perspectiveview, partly broken away, showing the construction of the foot plate;Fig. 5 is a perspective view, partly broken away, showing the bufferface plate; Fig. 6 is a partial plan view of the main bufier casting;Fig. 7 is a partial face view of the main buffer casting; Fig. 8 is afront view, similar to Fig. 2, showing a modification; Fig. 9 is asectional view of Fig.8, the section being on the line IX-IX, and Fig.10 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of the foot-plate shown inFigs. 8 and 9.

In Figs. 17 of the drawings, 2 is the main buifer casting whichconstitutes the transverse member of the buffer and has a rigidlyattached shank 3, which projects rearwardly therefrom and is divided orforked. The upper forward portion of the main bulier casting is recessedas shown in Figs. 1 and 3 to admit a face-plate 4, set loosely betweenthe buficr casting and the foot-plate 5. The transverse vertical rib 6at the upper part of the bufier casting is slotted at 7 (Fig. 7 toreceive a projecting tongue 8 on the face-plate (Fig. 5) which holds theface-plate in loose engagement with the buffer casting and permits it torock horizontally in either direction on the tongue as a center, therocking motion being limited by stop-projections 9 on the foot-platewithin slots 10 on the horizontal portion of the face-plate. Theface-plate is held yieldingly forward by springs 11, which areinterposed between the vertical portion of the face-plate and shoulders12 on the buffer casting, and pass through holes 13 on the recessedportion of the face of the buffer-casting. The foot-plate is held inplace, preferably by bolts 14, which pass through lugs 14 on thefoot-plate and secure it to the supports 15 of the hand-rail columns,and when this is done the bufierface plate and the springs are heldsecurely in place.

By the construction above described the buffer is provided with aspring-backed face which, being held in projected position by thesprings, is adapted to bear constantly against a correspondingface-plate on an ad joining car when the cars are coupled to gether.This is important when the buffer is used with radial draft gear, for ifthe buffer face were entirely rigid and held inflexibly at right anglesto the buffer-shank, the couplers, by reason of the clearance for thewheels on the track, might not meet in proper alinement when the carsare on curves, the couplers being guided by their guiding mechanism tothe center of the track; and while under heavy buffing stress thebuffer-faces would adjust themselves so as to bring the coupler-shanksand buffershanks into alinement, yet in case the pulling or buflingstresses were not suflicient to produce such alinement, the buffersmight engage each other at one side but have a gap between them at theother side. This will not occur with my device, for the face-plate,being backed yieldingly by the springs, will be held thereby in contactfrom side to side so as to present no such gap, and they will do thiswithout at all impairing the advantages which result from the rigidattachment of the main portion of the buffer to its shank which willstill act to bring the couplers into alinement and to keep them inalinement under severe bufling stresses.

In the modification shown in Figs. 8-10, I secure the parts together byproviding the foot-plate 5 on its under side with a round pin 9, whichprojects downwardly and enters an oblong hole 10 at the middle of thehorizontal portion of the face-plate. The pin 9 and the tongue 8 holdthe top and bottom of the face-plate at the middle, thus giving the endsof the face-plate greater play against the springs.

Other modifications of my invention will be suggested to those skilledin the art, since What I claim is:

1. A buffer having a yieldingly backed face-plate and a foot-plate bywhich the face-plate is held in position, said foot-plate beingconnected to the face-plate by a loose connection constituted by aprojection on one part fitting an opening in the other part.

2. A buffer having a rigidly connected transverse member and shank, ayieldingly backed face plate, and a foot plate by which the face plateis held in position.

3. A bufl'er having a rigidly connected transverse member and shank, ayieldingly backed face plate, and a foot plate by which the face plateis held in position, said foot plate being connected to the face plateby a loose connection.

4. A buffer having a rigidly connected transverse member and shank and ayieldingly backed face-plate, said face-plate having vertical andhorizontal portions, and a foot-plate loosely connected to thehorizontal portion of the face-plate.

HARRY T. KRAKAU.

Witnesses:

HARRY E. ORR, LEROY GOULD.

